Sunday 1st September to Tuesday 3rd September 2013 – Skopelos, Greece

We had a lovely few days with Norman and Deborah on the beautiful island of Skopelos. We investigated much of Skopelos Town and particularly enjoyed investigating the alleyways of the old town clustered around the Kastro (castle) hill. Here the architecture is fascinating, both the houses and the huge number of churches many of which are hidden in amongst the houses.

We had a great night with Norman and Deborah's good friends Jim and Ellen who they originally met on holiday in Skopelos and now meet every time they come to the island. There are a huge number of tavernas in Skopelos but over the years, Norman and Deborah have worked out the best ones and know all of the owners and staff well. We went to one of their favourites that night – Mouses (nothing to do with mice, it is pronounced 'moo-ses'). The food was excellent, as it was in all of the restaurants that we visited and there were many traditional Skopeletan dishes on the menu.

On Tuesday we went on a bus trip to Glossa at the other end of the island (also the other port that the ferry stops at). Glossa is a traditional village not as affected by tourism as Skopelos Town. We wandered around the alleyways and up to the small square where we found a small café. We wanted a small snack and saw that they served meze (small snacks) with their ouzo. Jane ordered an ouzo and Norman and I had beer and we asked for meze with them all. Deborah had a soft drink and some tzatziki and we planned to share all of the food. Jane's meze consisted of about 8 shallow-fried giant prawns and pickled vegetables whilst the beer meze was chunks of sausage, baked sweet pepper and fried patties made with potato, bread and cod's roe. The owner came out later and I asked her about the meze. She explained that they were very traditional – the strong spirit (ouzo) has to have a fish meze, whereas beer needs meat. Lovely, tasty food and excellent value.

Photos: Norman and Deborah's local bakers in a pretty traditional house; Skopelos Town church roof with traditional stone tiles; One of the older churches on the Kastro hill; Jim complained about the food at Mouses – the owner is about to attack him with the cleaver whilst Deborah attempts to prevent the cook from strangling Norman. Meanwhile, I take the photographs and keep my distance!